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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 13, 2000)
$$$$ DOES YOUR STUDENT ORGANIZATION NEED MONEY? $$$$ Its time for eligible student organizations to request funding for the 2000-2001 academic year. APPLICATION DEADLINE: FRIDAY, APRIL 14 4:30 PM. STUDENT FINANCE CENTER, 217 MSC Please see the Student Organization Finance Center for more details. S/ 0 N E C*' t om gt: LADIES' NIGHT " Ladies 18 & up in free all night // $ 1 pints all night $ 1 bar drinks "til 10 pm 696-5570 for details Party Safe and Designate a Driver. FREE soft drinks for Designated Drivers! www.tapbcs.coin SCIENCE Page 8 THE BATTALION Science Briefs Study questions estrogen effects CHICAGO (AP) — A new study has found that estrogen supple ments can reduce cholesterol in certain cases, but it only adds to the confusion over whether hor mones after menopause help or hurt women’s hearts. The study, involving women who already had heart disease, found that estrogen-progestin supplements reduced elevated levels of a type of cholesterol that has been linked to heart disease. But in women with low levels of the cholesterol to begin with, the hormones seemed to raise the risk of a heart attack. The researchers said they can not explain the findings. Coupled with last week’s re port from a government-funded study of women and estrogen, the findings add to recent evi dence that hormone supple ments might not be as good for the heart as some earlier re search suggested. Millions of women take estro gen supplements to ease hot flashes and other symptoms of menopause and to protect them selves against osteoporosis. For the past two decades, doctors have also believed that estrogen wards off heart attacks. ing sleep and is usually accom panied by loud snoring. The dis order is more common in people who are obese. In the study, researchers mea sured breathing pauses and blood pressure in 6,132 men and women 40 and older. Those with moderate to se vere apnea — more than 30 breathing pauses per hour — were more than twice as likely to have high blood pressure as those without apnea. The risk in creased with the severity of the apnea, regardless of weight, age or sex. Frogs va DALLAS < T *7 r i° us illne: Scientists fear species /A.W t-u i4- r . j., , ,, Wednesday (AP) — I he world s frogs, toads and other amphibians are vanishing, and the decline began decades before scientists first sounded the alarm in the 1980s, according to the biggest statis tical study of the topic. Pesticide runoff funding delayed Researchers reported that overall numbers of amphibians dropped 15 percent a year from 1960 to 1966, and continued to decline about 2 percent a year through 1997. “This should put the last nail in the coffin for anyone who doesn’t think there are some population declines for amphibians,” said Andrew Blaustein, a professor of zo- said Michael Lannoo. ap[,j^ n i chrn p, r anatomy at the Indiana[C- Lipscor School of Medicine. sente ncec The study was initiaisiawyers to Houlahan. a Ph.Dcandidate: Jot Kenda “By and large the enJfo appear been anecdotal. Noonehad; old was ho titatively tried to sayisar pneumonf global decline.” Houlaha: ’ thought the best wav tnriafir n a to ,.' simply to pile the data up as It Apnea linked to blood pressure CHICAGO (AP) — Sleep apnea, the breathing disorder that af fects some 12 million Americans, may raise the risk of high blood pressure, researchers reported today in the Journal of the Amer ican Medical Association. Sleep apnea is characterized by brief pauses in breathing dur- TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — A delay in federal funding is keeping farmers from participating in a program de signed to block pesticides from seeping into waterways and pre vent soil erosion. The state is waiting for the U.S. Agriculture Department's share of money so it can begin reimburs ing farmers who plant trees or strips of grass near streams. The “buffer strips” would help keep chemicals from reaching northern Ohio’s lakes and rivers. “We’re all ready to get this go ing," Larry Vance, chief of the state’s division of soil and water conservation, said Tuesday. “It's disappointing.” The Conservation Reserve En hancement Program is slated to commit $201 million over the next 15 years in Ohio. The federal government’s share would be about $11.1 mil lion each year. The state’s share would be $33.5 million over 10 years. State officials say it's crucial that this year's money be avail able within the next few weeks so that farmers can plant the trees and grass before summer. ology at Oregon State University. The findings, published in Thursday’s issue of the journal Na ture, were com piled by a Univer sity of Ottawa researcher, using “It's just society doing its thing” departure’ can get it and see what itieftpfcioh'^!l- I loulahan gleaned stufewjQpt’g a g e scure scientific journalsaaiRRoppp |-, a c umveraBobation c forthenarJp Richard: entistssL|:eember to phibians. J'conspiracy mailed ikj Lipscomb, if they kI sentenced share. He a more through Fro Internet i of the — Michael Lannoo Indiana University professor of anatomy Internet contacts with some 200 scien tists around the world. Since the late 1980s. scientists have been concerned about catastrophic de clines in populations of frogs, toads, salamanders and other amphibian species, particularly in Australia, South America, Central America and high-al titude regions of the American West. Because they are more vulnerable than many other creatures, amphibians are considered a "canary in the coal mine” for environmental damage. Scientists have yet to zero in the causes but suspect a combination of fac tors: loss of wetlands to development; use of fertilizers and pesticides; in creased ultraviolet light from an ozone layer thinned by industrial pollutants; and the introduction of exotic predators. “It’s just society doing its thing.” Amphibian Population last the World Conservation Species Survival Commissio: Data on 936 populations! phibians and 157 speciescaiK: 37 countries and eight regie’- world. "We could not have® without the Internet,"Houlafc) Trends varied by timeandy Western Europe, a sharp declj early 1960s leveled off later. I;! America, the decline was si steady. There was not enotigk fully analyze trends in Africa and Australia. Houlahan acknowledged phibians traditionally have through periodic booms toov regular population declines, Bui the analyses found overall booms are not overcoming the list ft mec CANTOb Jrs of a Nc |ave appoii for the fi I Van Zai lioners vc lathy Jack: I Jacksor the sheriff is the firsl law enforct 934. The ett was £ er husbar in a car ac Former: f cancer Ie as his adr “I felt lil erson foi .D. Hazel elegraph £ Make your summer counl Toward your GFA. (Get those required courses out of the way.) Summer I classes begin June 5; Summer II starts July 13. And the credits are a snap to transfer. 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